A profile of Morocco ahead of the African Cup of Nations - including past record, recent form and information on their players and coach.

PAST RECORD

In three of the last four African Cup of Nations finals, Morocco have qualified but then failed to get past the first round. In 2004 they unexpectedly progressed to the final where they lost narrowly to hosts Tunisia at Rades.

They were champions of Africa on one occasion, in 1976.

RECENT FORM

Morocco qualified easily for the finals past group opponents Malawi and Zimbabwe but then fired coach Mohamed Fakhir, hiring Frenchman Henri Michel to take over in September.

He has since won two of four games in charge and drew 2-2 with France in a Paris friendly in November.

COACH

Michel is a veteran of the continent's coaching circuit and participates in his fourth Cup finals. He took the Ivory Coast to the runners-up berth at the last finals in 2006 but before that had lost two jobs because of poor performances at the tournament.

Disappointing results at the tournament in Mali in 2002 saw Michel fired by Tunisia just months before he was supposed to take them to the World Cup finals in Japan. Morocco sacked him after at the 2000 finals.

PLAYERS

Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh again carries the hopes of his country into the tournament at a time when his own career needs a major boost.

Injury is likely to deprive Morocco of the services of the Anderlecht midfielder Mbarak Boussoufa, one of several Dutch-born players in the squad.

Tarek Sektioui's performances for Porto in the Champions League have won him a recall to the Morocco squad and he responded with a goal against the French in their friendly against at the Stade de France in November.

Morocco have long had a problem in the goalkeeping department and the tenure of recent first choice Tarek Jarmouni seems to have been brought to end as Michel shuffles the side around.

SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Abdelilah Bagui (Maghreb Fes), Khalid Fouhami (Raja Casablanca), Nadir Lamyaghri (Wydad Casablanca)

Defenders: Jamal Alioui (FC Sion Switzerland), Abdessamad Chahiri (Difaa El Jadida), Mickael Chretien (Nancy, France), Talal El Karkouri (Qatar SC, Qatar), El Armine Erbate (Al Dafra, United Arab Emiratyes), Hicham Mahdoufi (Metalist Kharkiv, Ukraine), Abdeslam Ouaddou (Valenciennes, France)

Midfielders: Soufiane Alloudi (Al Ain, United Arab Emirates), Badr El Kaddouri (Dinamo Kyiv, Ukraine), Abderrahmane Kabous (CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria), Houcine Kharja (Piacenza, Italy), Abdelkrim Kissi (Paralimini, Cyprus), Youssef Safri (Southampton, England), Tarik Sektioui (Porto, Portugal)

Forwards: Hicham Aboucherouane (Esperance, Tunisia), Maroune Chamakh (Bordeaux, France), Bouchaib El Moubarki (Grenoble, France), Youssef Hadji (Nancy, France), Youssef Moukhtari (Al Jazeera, Qatar), Moncef Zerka (Nancy, France)

Reuters